Published: 1 November 2022 (print)/20 January 2023 (audio) 
Publisher: Set the Mood Publishing/Set the Mood Publishing Audio
Pages: 131/3 hrs 26 mins
Narrator: Alexa Elmy
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ – 3 Stars
She’s about to have the night of her life. Over and over again.
At twenty-five, Lauree Miller knows what she should want — a serious job, a serious boyfriend, the ability to cook a meal that doesn’t involve two types of cheese.
Who cares if it isn’t the future she had in mind for herself? It’s about time she stopped pining over her best friend’s brother, Max, anyway.
New Years Eve is a time for resolutions, and as the clock ticks closer to midnight, Lauree makes a decision – next year, she’s going to let go of the past and finally grow up.
Except when she wakes, it’s still December 31st. Then it happens again. And again. And again.
What’s a girl trapped in a time loop to do?
Will kissing the right man at midnight set her free?
I have been on a time loop kick lately and finding a time loop set outside of a teen experience was great because it allowed more adult experiences and relationships to be explored. This short story is the perfect length to time loop the same New Years Eve over and over and it was wonderful to see how Lauree can redefine who she is and what she wants with such a short story that never felt rushed.
There is definitely room to expand and give readers more history and backstory, develop the story more but at the same time a short, sharp novella about a time loop and finding the right love is satisfying as well.
McLean address common problems like being in a loop so long you never know who has been told what, or what events happened on your current day they also mix the story up so there’s a combination of repeated moments to satisfy the loop element and you can see the changes, while also including new experiences to shift the story off course into a new line.
I liked that the way Lauree changes herself is inward and she doesn’t need to right too much of the world around her. The steps she takes to improve herself are small but impactful and despite being stuck in the loop for months on end she never falls into too much despair, which, while weird, isn’t always possibly on such a tight turn around.
Getting out of her loop is rewarding for readers, but at the same time I felt it could have ended sooner. This is part of a Movie Magic series so there obviously has to be goals met, but I felt like the real ending was a step too many to break the spell. Personally it could easily have broken sooner but I think that’s easily personal preference.
You can purchase Midnight, Repeated via the following
Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson
Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible
Lost in a Good Book 